At last weeks Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting an officer commented that it was good news that sickness absernce figures it had risen to over 9 days a year per employee (average) because this meant that the figures were more accurate. So for the last 3 years and possibly for the near future we still will not know the real sickness absence figures. What we do know though is that the council thinks these figures are OK because “they compare similarly with the other councils in the North East”. I hardly think that a sickness absence rate double the private sector average is anything to be happy with at all. At a cost of perhaps £20m a year or upto £90 per household on council tax.
Then again the mess the council has made of local government reorganisation it doesn’t surprise me that staff may be stressed or ill. Though work colleagues are clearly having to take up more work and not all of the absence can be justified otherwise the rate would be only slightly higher than the private sector.

It is clear to me that there is a core small minority spoiling it for everyone and costing the council a fortune. It is grossly unfair on the rest of the staff who have to pick up this extra workload and is unacceptable to the taxpayer too. We need far better management to tackle those who are abusing the system, and Labour seems either incapable or unwilling to crack down.

A councillor working group has been sent up to look at how to deal with this, and I hope it will result in some serious action, not more talking.